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Malaysia deports Australian journalists

March 15, 2016

Malaysia has deported the two Australian journalists who were held at the weekend for trying to question Prime Minister Najib Razak over multiple scandals. Questions about Najib's alleged cover-ups remain.

https://p.dw.com/p/1IDCu
Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Reporter Linton Besser
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Z. Sheblee

Reporter Linton Besser and camera operator Louie Eroglu, from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), had been detained overnight in Kuching on Saturday.

They were subsequently released but were barred from leaving Malaysia pending possible charges.

"It has been a roller coaster few days," Besser told reporters before boarding a flight to Singapore Tuesday.

Besser had tried to question Najib on Saturday night as the prime minister visited a mosque in Kuching, capital of Malaysia's Sarawak state on Borneo island.

Malaysia Premierminister Najib Abdul Razak
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Ismail

Najib's government has sought to undercut media scrutiny of alleged corruption. The prime minister is fighting accusations that billions of dollars were taken from a state-owned fund he set up in 2009.

Najib also faces questions over the murder in 2006 of a Mongolian woman by two of his bodyguards.

Malaysian police accused the two men of crossing a security line, saying they "aggressively tried to approach the prime minister" and said they faced possible charges of "obstructing a public servant."

"Obviously, they are relieved," the journalists' attorney Albert Tang told AFP.

The move follows Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's comments Monday that journalists should be allowed to work unhindered.

jh/rc (AFP/AP)